“It’s a little strange, though, to realize that a large part of my identity is tied to something that is completely ephemeral. You can’t touch music — it exists only at the moment it is being apprehended — and yet it can profoundly alter how we view the world and our place in it. Music can get us through difficult patches in our lives by changing not only how we feel about ourselves, but also how we feel about everything outside ourselves. It’s powerful stuff.” — David Byrne, in How Music Works

A friend told me once that the music we listen to in our teenage years has a significant influence on our identity both in those moments and later in life. If that's the case, my identity must be a complex and strange one.

What music has shaped your identity?

It's an important question to ask and answer, apparently; a case in point that it's often the unlikely and illusive things that shape and influence our character most.